1. People seem to recall the brand of an advertised product,
considering most favorably the most frequently advertised product;
therefore, an advertisement that is----in newspaper advertisement
would be expected to be very----, but, actually, it is not.
(A) dominant.. impressive
(B) frequent.. bad
(C) unusual.. effective
(D) new.. rare
(E) widespread.. ineffective

2. Just as human beings who depend on each other, there are no
------- foliages.
(A) neglectable
(B) existing
(C) conventional
(D) dependable
(E) solitary

Explanation: The phrase “just as" means a similar way.
Since human beings depend on each other, the foliages should also
depend on each other, or are not solitary. Therefore, the best
answer is E.

3. The blueprints for the new automobile were ----at first glance.
but the designer had been basically too conservative to ----
previous standards of beauty.
(A) striking.. flout
(B) impractical.. ignore
(C) impeccable.. dispel
(D) influential ..assess
(E) confusing.. incorporate

4. Because its average annual rainfall is only about four
inches, one of the major tasks faced by the country has been to
find ----sources of water.
(A) discontinuous
(B) natural
(C) supplementary
(D) pervasive
(E) initial

5. Because the order in which the parts of speech appear in the
sentences of a given language is decided merely by custom, it
is---- to maintain that every departure from that order
constitutes a ----of a natural law.
(A) traditional.. transformation
(B) conventional.. transgression
(C) necessary.. prototype
(D) unjustifiable.. violation
(E) unreasonable.. formulation

Reading Comprehension

The function of capital markets is to facilitate an exchange of
funds among all participants, and yet in practice we find that
certain participants are not on a par with others. Members of
society have varying degrees of market strength in terms of
information they bring to a transaction, as well as of purchasing
power and creditworthiness, as defined by lenders.

For example, within minority communities, capital markets do
not properly fulfill their functions; they do not provide access
to the aggregate flow of funds in the United States. The financial
system does not generate the credit or investment vehicles needed
for underwriting economic development in minority areas. The
problem underlying this dysfunction is found in a rationing
mechanism affecting both the available alternatives for investment
and the amount of financial resources. This creates a distributive
mechanism penalizing members of minority groups because of their
socioeconomic differences from others. The existing system
expresses definite socially based investment preferences that
result from the previous allocation of income and that influence
the allocation of resources for the present and future. The system
tends to increase the inequality of income distribution. And, in
the United States economy, a greater inequality of income
distribution leads to a greater concentration of capital in
certain types of investment.
Most traditional financial-market analysis studies ignore
financial markets" deficiencies in allocation because of analysts"
inherent preferences for the simple model of perfect competition.
Conventional financial analysis pays limited attention to issues
of market structure and dynamics, relative costs of information,
and problems of income distribution. Market participants are
viewed as acting as entirely independent and homogeneous
individuals with perfect foresight about capital-market behavior.
Also, it is assumed that each individual in the community at large
has the same access to the market and the same opportunity to
transact and to express the preference appropriate to his or her
individual interest. Moreover, it is assumed that transaction
costs for various types of financial instruments (stocks, bonds,
etc.) are equally known and equally divided among all community
members.

6. The main point made by the passage is that
(A) financial markets provide for an optimum allocation of
resources among all competing participants by balancing supply and
demand
(B) the allocation of financial resources takes place among
separate individual participants, each of whom has access to the
market
(C) the existence of certain factors adversely affecting members
of minority groups shows that financial markets do not function as
conventional theory says they function
(D) investments in minority communities can be made by the use of
various alternative financial instruments, such as stocks and
bonds
(E) since transaction costs for stocks, bonds, and other other
financial instruments are not equally apportioned among all
minority-group members, the financial market is subject to
criticism

7. The passage states that traditional studies of the financial
market overlook imbalances in the allocation of financial
resources because
(A) an optimum allocation of resources is the final result of
competition among participants
(B) those performing the studies choose an oversimplified
description of the influences on competition
(C) such imbalances do not appear in the statistics usually
compiled to measure the market’s behavior
(D) the analysts who study the market are unwilling to accept
criticism of their methods as biased
(E) socioeconomic difference form the basis of a rationing
mechanism that puts minority groups at a disadvantage

8. The author’s main point is argued by
(A) giving examples that support a conventional generalization
(B) showing that the view opposite to the author’s is
self-contradictory
(C) criticizing the presuppositions of a proposed plan
(D) showing that omissions in a theoretical description make it
inapplicable in certain cases
(E) demonstrating that an alternative hypothesis more closely fits
the data

9. A difference in which of the following would be an example
of inequality in transaction costs as alluded to in lines 40-43?
(A) Maximum amounts of loans extended by a bank to businesses in
different areas
(B) Fees charged to large and small investors for purchasing
stocks
(C) Prices of similar goods offered in large and small stores in
an area
(D) Stipends paid to different attorneys for preparing legal suits
for damages
(E) Exchange rates in dollars for currencies of different
countries

10. Which of the following can be inferred about minority
communities on the basis of the passage?
(A) They provide a significant portion of the funds that become
available for investment in the financial market.
(B) They are penalized by the tax system, which increases the
inequality of the distribution of income between investors and
wage earners.
(C) They do no receive the share of the amount of funds available
for investment that would be expected according to traditional
financial-market analysis.
(D) They are not granted governmental subsidies to assist in
underwriting the cost of economic development
(E) They provide the same access to alternative sources of credit
to finance businesses as do majority communities.

11. According to the passage, a questionable assumption of the
conventional theory about the operation of financial markets is
that
(A) creditworthiness as determined by lenders is a factor
determining market access
(B) market structure and market dynamics depend on income
distribution
(C) a scarcity of alternative sources of funds would result from
taking socioeconomic factors into consideration
(D) those who engage in financial-market transactions are
perfectly well informed about the market
(E) inequalities in income distribution are increased by the
functioning of the financial market

12. According to the passage, analysts have conventionally
tended to view those who participate in financial market as
(A) judging investment preferences in terms of the good of society
as a whole
(B) influencing the allocation of funds through prior ownership of
certain kinds of assets
(C) varying in market power with respect to one another
(D) basing judgments about future events mainly on chance
(E) having equal opportunities to engage in transactions

(The following is based on material written in 1996.)
The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer,
signed in 1987 by more than 150 nations, has attained its
short-term goals: it has decreased the rate of increase in amounts
of most ozone-depleting chemicals reaching the atmosphere and has
even reduced the atmospheric levels of some of them. The
projection that the ozone layer will substantially recover from
ozone depletion by 2050 is based on the assumption that the
protocol’s regulations will be strictly followed. Yet there is
considerable evidence of violations, particularly in the form of
the release of ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s), which
are commonly used in the refrigeration, heating, and air
conditioning industries. These violation reflect industry
attitudes; for example, in the United States, 48 percents of
respondents in a recent survey of subscribers to Air Conditioning,
Heating, and Refrigeration News, and industry trade journal, said
that they did not believe that CFC’s damage the ozone layer.
Moreover, some in the industry apparently do not want to pay for
CFC substitutes, which can run five times the cost of CFC’s.
Consequently, a black market in imported illicit CFC’s has grown.
Estimates of the contraband CFC trade range from 10,000 to 22,000
tons a year, with most of the CFC’s originating in India and
China, whose agreements under the Protocol still allow them to
produce CFC’s. In fact, the United States Customs Service reports
that CFC-12 is a contraband problem second only to illicit drugs.

13. According to the passage, which of the following best
describes most ozone-depleting chemicals in 1996 as compared to
those in 1987?
(A) The levels of such chemicals in the atmosphere had decreased.
(B) The number of such chemicals that reached the atmosphere had
declined.
(C) The amounts of such chemicals released had increased but the
amounts that reached the atmosphere had decreased.
(D) The rate of increase in amounts of such chemicals reaching the
atmosphere had decreased.
(E) The rate at which such chemicals were being reduced in the
atmosphere had slowed.

14. The author of the passage compares the smuggling of CFC’s
to the illicit drug trade most likely for which of the following
reasons?
(A) To qualify a previous claim
(B) To emphasize the extent of a problem
(C) To provide an explanation for an earlier assertion
(D) To suggest that the illicit CFC trade, likely the illicit drug
trade, will continue to increase
(E) To suggest that the consequences of a relatively little-knows
problem are as serious as those of a well-known one

15. The passage suggests which of the following about the
illicit trade in CFC’s?
(A) It would cease if manufacturers in India and China stopped
producing CFC’s.
(B) Most people who participate in such trade do not believe that
CFC’s deplete the ozone layer.
(C) It will probably surpass illicit drugs as the largest
contraband problem faced by the United States Custom Services.
(D) It is fostered by people who do not want to pay the price of
CFC substitutes.
(E) It has grown primarily because of the expansion of the
refrigeration, heating, and air-conditioning industries in foreign
countries.